Tea, Earl Grey, Hot

I'm not really a tea fangirl.

But appears that when it comes to Earl Grey, I might very well be.

See, I don't drink a lot of different types of tea, I rarely use a teapot and frankly loose tea is a right old faff.

Most of the time I drink Asda's redbush, which is lovely and light and not bitter in the slightest. Then there's my morning coffee, decaff, usually Nescafe but I don't mind so long as it's not Maxwell House (which some people probably like but I absolutely can't stand).  

Earl Grey is my writing tea - enough caffeine to give me a bit of much-needed energy, but not so much as to give me the jitters. I probably drink a few cups a week. But! Earlier this week, my supply of the miracle drink RAN OUT.

SO! What's a girl to do?

Get some more, you very sensibly say.

And I did. But did I get the proper, approved-by-the-Earl-himself stuff? No! I bought Sunshine Grey, which I thought would be all lemony and lovely.

It's nice, don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not, y'know, AMAZING.

Instead of drinking that, then, and instead of drinking my very last bag of Lady Grey, I went to the back of the cupboard and dug out the somewhat crushed box of Typhoo EG.

Cue sadface.

Twinings EG: The second best thing ever in the history of tea. Strong-ish and tea-flavoured but the bitterness isn't overpowering. The bergamot gets stronger the more you brew it, going from barely-there to a nice undercurrent. Yummy tea. Great to get the words a'flowing.

Lady Grey, also Twinings: The best thing ever in the history of tea. Lighter, fluffier, more citrus'y, slightly more floral. Not overpowering even if you leave it for ages while you track down new batteries for the Wii remote.  Don't really know what it's like with writing, because I got it in a selection box and I only had five bags to start with so I leave it for special occasions / times when I can actually focus on the loveliness of what I'm drinking.

Sunshine Grey, see above: Nice tea. Too easily overpowered by milk, so don't even go there; extremely gentle tea. Nice but not enough of a kick for my personal taste. I haven't tried it with writing yet. I will, in a minute.

Typhoo EG: Too much black tea, not enough citrus, not enough bergamot. But if you like a strong black tea flavour and only a hint of Grey-ness, then you'll probably really like it. Not too bad for writing.

Those are all the ones I've tried - sadly I don't have the money for Whittards, though it might be nice to try what I've nicknamed in my head the poshest tea on the planet, and, in moments of fangirly weakness, the Mycroft Holmes Tea.

Speaking of fangirlyness, I really want to try Adagio. But the shipping costs are just...no, and the UK branch doesn't seem to stock fandom tea.

Having a quick scan, the River Song looks lovely (Earl Grey (obv.) coconut, lemon. All my favourite things!), the Office Romance, Captain Carrot (peach, blood orange, EG)....ah, too many. 

Anyway, that's enough for today and my tea-based ramblings!

~Alice